The top four picks in the 2007 WNBA Draft: (L to R) Armintie Price, Jessica Davenport, Noelle Quinn and Lindsey Harding.

Jennifer Pottheiser/NBAE/Getty Images

CLEVELAND, April 4, 2007 — No underclassmen? No problem.

Trades stole the show the 2007 WNBA Draft, as the top two picks switched places
in separate deals and All-Star Becky
Hammon was sent from New York to San Antonio.

After winning the Draft lottery, the Phoenix Mercury were rumored to have been
trying to trade the No. 1 pick for weeks. They ended up selecting Duke point
guard Lindsey
Harding with their top pick, then traded
her to Minnesota for veteran forward Tangela
Smith.

"The trades were the story of the day," said ESPN reporter and former
WNBA star Rebecca Lobo. "Especially their magnitude. Anytime you trade
the No. 1 pick, that's a big deal. And not only was the No. 2 pick traded, but
it was for Becky Hammon! It's a huge deal."

"They traded a superstar!" ESPN analyst and basketball legend Nancy
Lieberman said of Hammon, who has averaged more than 13.5 points per game every
year since 2002. "She's not a role player! She's the face of this league,
many would say."

"It was shocking to me," said Lobo. "(Hammon) is the marquee
name in New York. She's the one who sells the tickets and makes that show go.
That was a pretty big 'wow' factor. For her to go from being undrafted (she
was assigned to the Liberty prior to the 1999 season) to being traded for the
second player in the draft is amazing."

With the third pick, the Chicago Sky were quick to grab Ole Miss guard Armintie
Price, a player who has been steadily creeping up many draft boards in recent
weeks.

The pick drew rave reviews from ESPN analyst Doris Burke.

"I think Armintie Price is the most exciting player in the draft,"
she said afterwards. "This is a kid who has explosive athleticism. I think
she's already among the best athletes in the league. Couple that with her rebounding
and slashing ability, and she elevates the talent level of the Sky.

"Once this woman gets a consistent 3-point shot," she continued,
"she will be impossible to guard. The player I expect the most out of (in
this draft) is Armintie Price.

With the fourth pick, Minnesota grabbed UCLA wing Noelle
Quinn, and the Liberty followed at No. 5 with big Texas forward Tiffany
Jackson.

"The New York kids  Davenport and Jackson  are happy because they'll
get a chance to play a lot," said Lobo. "As a rookie, you usually don't get
a huge chance to shine, but those players definitely will."

Long considered a likely top-five pick after her impressive career at North
Carolina, point guard Ivory
Latta fell all the way to the defending WNBA champion Detroit Shock at No.
11.

"That definitely surprised me," said Lobo. "But (going to Detroit)
is a great situation for her, because it can be tough to go from a team that
has a lot of success to a team that's bad. And she doesn't have to deal with
that. She gets to go to the defending champion.

"I wouldn't have been shocked to see her go No. 2, so for her to slip
all the way to go 11th was a surprise."

Another potential steal in many experts' minds was Latta's teammate at North
Carolina, forward Camille
Little, who went to San Antonio with the 17th overall pick.

Ivory Latta gets a hug after becoming the 11th selection in the draft. She will join Bill Laimbeer and the defending champion Shock.Randy Belice/NBAE/Getty Images

"That absolutely jumps out at you," Lobo said. "(Coach/GM) Dan
Hughes said he actually considered taking her with the No. 2 overall pick.

"The question with (Little) was that she can do a lot of things pretty
well, but what is the one thing that she's great at? What she's great at is
doing a lot of things well. She'll fit in nicely in (San Antonio)."

Who went higher in the draft than the experts may have originally expected?

Burke pointed immediately to Purdue wing Katie
Gearlds, who went to Seattle with the No. 7 pick.

"Based on her performance in the NCAAs against quality competition and
the 3-point shooting performance in the competition at the men's Final Four…
she skyrocketed! There was talk that she might be an early second-rounder, so
she went pretty high."

Lobo went a pick further, bringing up junior college star Ashley
Shields, who went eighth to the Houston Comets.

"Most of the people in this room who aren't related to her probably hadn't
heard of her until a few days ago," she joked. "She was called just
24 hours ago and invited to be here. That's stunning to me. The first JuCo kid
to ever be drafted? That was the biggest surprise."

"The movement of Becky Hammon to San Antonio will have a huge impact on
that team."

Though the trades remained the top story of the day, Burke continued to sing
the praises of the Sky for selecting Armintie Price.

"A second-year franchise is going to need someone to come in and play
major minutes and give them a significant contribution," she said, "and
I think she's a kid who can do that. She'll surprise some people on the boards.
She can play multiple positions, and she'll fill the stat sheet offensively
and defensively."

Lobo agreed.

"People have learned about Armintie Price lately (from the NCAA Tournament),
but a couple of weeks ago, people would have been saying 'Who's this girl, Armintie
Price?' And once you see her in the WNBA, you won't be asking that question
anymore."

So among all of these happy draft picks heading off to WNBA training camps,
who has the edge in the Rookie of the Year voting?